Day 3 recap: Daniil Tarasov impresses, a scrimmage comeback, Brad Stuart talks about his injury — and more

BOX – Coaches like to say that every year, you can count on somebody coming out of nowhere to get their attention and earn a spot on an NHL roster.

Well, maybe not out of nowhere – but someone who wasn’t getting a lot of attention outside the organization at least.

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For the Sharks, this year that could be Daniil Tarasov. While Tomas Hertl and Matt Nieto have been under the spotlight as rookie candidates, Tarasov was the one who scored what may have been the most impressive goal of camp so far. In Saturday’s scrimmage, he interecepted a clearing pass, turned around and fired a shot on net, then hustled to get to his own rebound and put it in the back of the net.

So does Tarasov have Todd McLellan’s attention?
“Yes, he has,” McLellan said, “and it didn’t start in training camp.”

It started, McLellan said, a year ago, when Tarasov ended up being dispatched to the San Francisco Bulls of the ECHL because the NHL lockout made jobs in Worcester tougher to come by.

“He could have gone there and pouted,” McLellan said. “He didn’t and he’s been one of our better players to this point.”

Tarasov scored 14 points in 17 games with San Francisco, went back to Worcester and earned rookie of the year honors with 14 goals and 28 points in 43 games. He started on the fourth line and worked his way up to regular power play duty.

At 22, Tarasov sees himself as the guy who could surprise people and stay in San Jose for a while.

“That’s my mindset. Why not me, right?,” Tarasov said. “Just trying to put lots of work on it and go as far as I can and see what happens.”

The 6-foot, 185-pound left wing said he spent most of the summer training in San Jose and is excited now that camp is here

“I’m just trying to show the coaches what I can do and do my best,” said Tarasov, who grew up in Moscow watching Pavel Bure play and now considers Pavel Datsyuk the player he follows the closest.

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****Tarasov’s goal gave his Teal team a 3-1 lead, but the White squad first rallied on goals by Scott Hannan and Rylan Scwartz, then won in a shootout, 4-3.

“There was a better overall intensity to the game and I think we have to give the White team credit,” McLellan said. “Yesterday I was obviously not pleased with their intensity, but they brought it today. It would have been easy for them to roll over and play dead when they were down, but they fought back.”

Raffi Torres got the other goal for the White team while Brent Burns and Taylor Doherty scored for Teal. The closest thing to an injury came when a deflected puck hit Rob Davison on the bridge of the nose. The cut required stitches, but Davison continued to play.

During the scrimmage, McLellan began shifting lines around. Hertl, for example, started the game with Joe Pavelski and Tommy Wingels, then later skated with Joe Thornton and Burns, switching places with Tyler Kennedy.

Expect more of the same

“I think we have to tinker enough to know about our personnel,” McLellan said, adding “it’ll take some time.”

****Dan Boyle knows that he, Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau are all going to be asked questions about their contract status since all three are in their final year of long pacts. All three have indicated they would like to continue their careers in San Jose.

“Ideally I think we would all like it to be done before our season starts,” Boyle said. “But there are three of us that are in the same boat and we’ve just got to let our agents deal with that. That’s what they’re there for.”

****The print edition story for Sunday likely will reflect back on Brad Stuart’s absence from camp. Stuart talked with a couple of us and you can read the online story at http://www.mercurynews.com/sharks/ci_24096339/sharks-brad-stuart-says-he-should-be-ready to see what he has to say.

Hint: He expects to be good to go by the Oct. 3 season opener.

****Very happy to see the positive reaction so far to the new comment section. Find that very encouraging.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.